Monday, February 28, 2005

---Yawn!---

So the Academy Awards were on last night...

Was anyone else just plain bored???

I'm not a Chris Rock fan to begin with. His voice and pitch irritate the hell out of me. But he is known for being outspoken and you could tell he was restrained last night. With all of the build-up on his hosting and his pre-show comments about gay blacks being the only African-American's to watch the show it seemed like there was an expectation for something more controversial.

Instead, he was just dull.

I was shocked that Million Dollar Baby took so many awards away from The Aviator and Ray. I was sorry to see Scorcese overlooked again. I half-expected him to jump on the back of his chair and scream, "What do I have to do?" He is the Susan Lucci of Directors.

I hated Hillary Swank's dress, but had to admire the back view. She is in amazing shape. Renee Zellweger's dark hair was another thumbs down in my opinion. She's waifishly thin right now, but the dress was beautiful. Barbra Streisand looked larger than life in her ensemble, but her jewelry was gorgeous. Sean Penn was sharply dressed as always and what the fuck was Johnny Depp's look? And Clint Eastwood was looking strangley preserved with a much more unlined face than I've seen before on him. Botox? A Nip/Tuck?

All in all, it was a snore. Jamie Foxx's speech was touching and Hillary Swank's speech was enjoyable. The rest were forgettable. Nothing like the laughter, tears and drama that we've seen in the past.

My favorite Academy Awards moment in history is Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful. And I highly recommend the film. Watch it with the subtitles, it's so much better. Bonjiorno, Principessa!

On a reverse note, Halle Berry accepted her Golden Razzie award for Worst Actress (Catwoman) in person and I have to give her a standing ovation for that. It showed more about her spirit and strength than I would have guessed at. Good for her. I maintain that Catwoman was a movie where they had a super-sexy costume and a hot actress and decided that was a movie. A plot or dialogue were all afterthoughts.